The GOAT strikes (or doesn’t) again
Barcelona are going through a bit of a crisis at the moment. Their president has just resigned, which was a cause for celebration among fans and players, but their financial problems are not going away. They need to cut £170m from their wage bill as soon as possible, and a construction firm have been requested they are placed into bankruptcy.
On the pitch, though, it was smiles all round this weekend.
Ronald Koeman’s side beat Real Betis 5-2, Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembélé – both of whom have struggled for form at the Camp Nou – getting on the scoresheet.
Griezmann has been having a particularly tough time of late, uncharacteristically missing numerous sitters.
But when Lionel Messi is on your side, you know eventually you’ll get a chance you can’t miss. And that’s exactly what happened shortly after half-time. A a cross fizzed across the box, Messi ran to the near post, bringing a defender and former Barça keeper Claudio Bravo with him. Without touching the ball, he took two players out of the game and gave Griezmann the easiest goal he will ever score.
It might seem like hyperbole to praise Messi given he got neither the goal or the assist here, but without his spacial awareness the goal simply does not happen. It was reminiscent of Romelu Lukaku’s brilliant dummy to cap off a counter-attack against Japan for Belgium in the World Cup. You know the one.
Anyway watch the goal below and marvel at Messi’s magic.
I would die for this Messi dummy pic.twitter.com/fgWdnRgDSN
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) November 7, 2020
